Partners sign MoU for Nigeria-Morocco pipeline

An MoU has been signed by the Economic Community of West African States and the governments of Nigeria and Morocco to build a 700,000-kilometre pipeline between the two nations, the regional union announced on Saturday.

The proposed USD 25-billion project will pass through Benin, Togo, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, The Gambia, Senegal and Mauritania. It is an extension of the West African Gas Pipeline currently linking Nigeria and Ghana.

The asset will consist of 13 compressor stations and transport 85 mcm (3 bcf) of gas per day.

In the long term, the line will connect to the Maghreb-Europe pipeline and ultimately to the European gas network. The pipeline will also supply gas to the land-locked countries of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.

The three sides of the partnership were represented by Mallam Mele Koyo Kyari, group CEO of NOC Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), Amina Bankhadra, director general of the Moroccan National Office of Hydrocarbons and Mines (ONHYM) and Sediko Douka, commissioner for infrastructure, energy and digitalisation for the Economic Community of West African States.

NNPC expects to complete the development in six phases over the next 25 years.

The project is expected to be funded by NNPC and ONHYM on a 50:50 basis.